City Hall Plans Go Back To Designer

Kissimmee Commissioners Want The Architect To Put More Character Into The Estimated $9.6 Million Building.

September 6, 1997|By Susan Jacobson of The Sentinel Staff

KISSIMMEE — It's back to the drawing board for the new Kissimmee City Hall. Several city commissioners this week said they want the building to have more pizazz. What they're after is character, they said.

''Make it look more like an office building,'' City Commissioner Linda Goodwin said. ''Make it look less like a warehouse.''

The roof line was one object of criticism, although commissioners weren't specific on how they want it changed. The architect, Gene Ely of C.T. Hsu and Associates, was asked to come back with several design modifications by the beginning of next month.

Ely was on vacation this week and unavailable to comment.

The new City Hall is to be built behind the current building on Church Street in downtown Kissimmee at an estimated cost of $9.6 million. The commission toyed with the idea of building on the old Beaumont Middle School site, but a deal could not be worked out to buy the property from the School Board.

The new design work isn't expected to add to the cost, Assistant City Manager Laura Blackmon said. However, the bill could go up if the City Commission wants changes implemented, officials said.

Commissioner Joe Hemphill said he doesn't want to see extensive changes.

''If they want to play around with the roof lines, I'm perfectly willing,'' he said.

The city already has spent about $600,000 to buy land and design the five-story project, which will be built by Winter Haven Construction Co.

The 79,000-square-foot City Hall will house most Kissimmee workers and feature a separate-but-connected 4,000-square-foot meeting room in front.

Construction is expected to start by March. A previous commission approved the project about 20 months ago, but plans weren't finalized until last October. Then work was put on hold while commissioners considered the Beaumont location. The current commission voted in July to move on the Church Street site.